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1Heading West: NIRCA’s Plan for Expansion

Heading West

NIRCA’s Plan for ExpansionNovember 2009

By Tom Heinonen, Kristen Mohror, and Giovanni GuzmanUniversity of Oregon Running Club

2Heading West: NIRCA’s Plan for Expansion

RUNNING CLUB ON CAMPUS...WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

Do you want to start a running club at your school? Do you want to make your school'srunning club bigger, better, more vibrant, more all-inclusive? Do you have ideas to shareabout your experience with your running club?

Read our plan below and tell us what you think!

Email us with your thoughts, the challenges you face getting a club going at your school,what has worked and what hasn’t worked for your club in your unique setting.

Maybe we can connect you with someone who has dealt with your challenges or similar

ones who can help you out. Maybe you can help other runners get their club off the ground.

We hope to offer help, gather information about what's worked, what to avoid, and to get

our conclusions sent out to a lot of college club runners across the country.

Read on! Email us with questions and email us with answers!

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON RUNNING CLUB: ONE EXAMPLE

The UO Running Club is what we know best...it's our club. Here's how it developed, or skipahead to other headings below which might hit your specific interest. We won't feel hurt.

In 2003, Tom Heinonen retired after 27 years as the women's track & cross country coachat Oregon. He agreed to work with Club as a volunteer when asked by student coordinatorRichie Carpenter.

The club had existed in some format in previous years including a time when a few runnersdid a lot of fundraising and flew to the famous Bay-to-Breakers road race in San Francisco.

In the previous year or two, even with Olympian Mike Manley to coach them occasionally,there were only a half-dozen active runners.

Beginning in late summer Tom answered emails sent to the UO Club Sports website, and

began sending regular emails to the small group list. Word of mouth helped greatly.

Tom was familiar to in-state coaches. So, in the fall he was able to get Club runners intocross country and track meets hosted by NCAA Division III colleges whose meets wereopen to intercollegiate athletes and some open/unattached/club runners also.

The Club grew year-by-year with new student coordinators every one or two years. We

made efforts to be welcoming to recreational runners and competitive runners. We alwaysmeet Monday through Friday at 3:00pm at the artificial “waterfall” in front of the reccenter, a very public setting which might create more interest. Most of our runs are just

3Heading West: NIRCA’s Plan for Expansion

relaxed, aerobic runs. Tom is there every

day. He works hard to know every runner'sname and where they're from. He greets every runner by name, everyday, which creates awelcoming atmosphere and helps runners to know each others' names.

Our runners usually all start off on a run together, men and women, at a very easy pace.Eventually, people sort themselves out by pace, the distance they want to run and where

they want to go. It's self-determined. Almost everyone comes back to the “waterfall” at theend of their run. As they filter back, it's a good time for conversation.

If the weather is dry, after the first few runners get back, we go to the intramural field (just a half-block down the street) for more conversation, some abdominal exercises and

perhaps some strides...and more conversation. People leave whenever the need or want to.

Tom needs to be a bit watchful and thoughtful about runners, especially newcomers andfemales, who don't come back from a run. He's made occasional phone calls to check onpeople. Usually, if he asks, someone knows that a person has gone straight home.

Our setting is unique in the enthusiasm for running in our community, in its history,perhaps in its environment, and certainly in the people whom our runners might see whileout for a run. We were shocked to have fifty runners show up for our first run of fall term

2008. We'd never had thirty at once before. We thought it might have had to do with theOlympic Trials just two months earlier. We had forty or more everyday during the first week of fall 2009. Then the rains came...

Every large university has lots of runners on campus...runners who could be on an NCAADivision II or III team or a junior college team, but who chose to go to a large university andcan't make a Division I team, or chose not to be involved at that level. And there are gradstudents on campus who have competed inter-collegiately. Often they can't devote muchtime or energy to running, but if it's low-key and demands little time, a club can be just right for some grad students. They add maturity, athletic and academic purpose, and awealth of experience. It's great for freshmen to mix with grad

students on runs!

Because the organizational focus of the Club is on the competitive side, it's easy to ignorethe more recreational side of the Club. But everyone who comes to “Club” does it becausethey want to. It must be fun and rewarding, or people won't come. The welcoming

atmosphere and relaxed interest of the coach are vital. Occasional off-the-wallcompetitions or challenges help, too...bring back a business card; Tom will pick the most interesting one...bring back a beautiful autumn leaf...run to 2406 Fairmount Blvd anddecide what's unique about the house there (Tom knows)...find a house whose street

address is 1234 or 4321...

We've found that it's valuable to offer occasional non-competitive outings for the Club.

Most of our travel is day-trips to in-state track or cross country meets. Last spring we hadvans reserved for a meet which had been cancelled. So we took two vans to the Oregon